Nightmares Rated M
by truthrowan
Summary: Nadia Amell awakes from nightmares, abominations and the Harrowing are not the only thing to fear in the tower. All Templars are male, and trained the nullify the one defense the females they are set to guard about have: Magic. A very dark fic, apologies


Nadia Amell fights back the tears and a moan as he gently stroked her hair. "So pretty and soft, like moonlight." He whispers behind her, and she shivers as his breath brushes her neck. She can feel his chausses bunched against her legs between them, pinning her to the bed. "So small, so fragile" he whispers into her hair, fingers of one hand twining, the other skimming across her ribs. Nadia tries to will herself away, to anywhere else. She cannot.

She knows better than to call upon her magic, to use it to try to protect herself. She learned that lesson well the first time, when he'd used his templar training to crush her feeble attempt at defense. His face had been livid, "Whore, Whore traitorous whore!" He'd screamed in her face then, spittle impacting mere moments before his gauntleted hand. Her only blessing, thank the maker, is that she is knocked half unconscious from the beginning of the assault, and cannot remember the rest. "I cannot remember, I cannot Remember, Nothing happened, nothing happened." But her shaky movements and jumping at shadows, the nightmares that awake her in the night would not have fooled anyone had the threat of Harrowing and never returning from it not hung over her head.

"Poor girl, she's nervous, having nightmares," They said, and the instructors gave her a calming brew to steady her nerves and let her sleep. She tries to pretend nothing happened, but there are eyes on her, all the time, and sometimes they close there helmets and she does not know who is who, and lives her whole day in fear where before Templars were only part of the furniture. She tries to pretend it never happened, until it happens again.

He is behind her, dragging her off into a corner, telling her that if she tries to use magic he will kill her, and claim she was demon possessed. If she tries to tell, he will slay her the same way, or tell them she is possessed by an abomination of lust, or using magic to control him, or that he found her doing forbidden spells. He will be found innocent, at worst sent away, and she will be dead. And sometimes she wonders if that would be so bad. She feels his hands harsh and bruising on her wrists, sliding up her arms to her back, and knows she will have to use a healing spell before she returns. He demands she show no evidence, that no one suspect, and she wonders if there would be punishment if anyone discovers his crimes, or if her life is worth so little because she was cursed with the gift of magic at birth, and there for a sub person in the eyes of the chantry, a beast to keep pinned and watched.

He moves against her, and it's all she can do to hold back the terrified sobs. "Please maker, please maker, please maker" She screams out in her mind, and somehow, repeating it, manages to lull herself into a half comatose state. But then he touches her, there, and she screams and screams and-

She wakes up screaming, and Alistair is there, shaking her, shaking her, "NADIA! NADIA, wake up, wake up, it's just a nightmare, a dream," But she pulls away from him, half screaming half crying, scrabbling backwards away from him and the bedroll by the campfire where she lay, scrambling backwards, and sobbing, great heaving sobs with her corn silk blond hair loose and wild all around her blue eyes frantic and unseeing. Her magic flares up, uncalled, a natural defense. "Stay Back! Stay back stay back stay AWAY FROM ME!" She howls, and then dog is there, between them, growling and she hugs him, hugs him, and Morrigan is there, a loose dressing gown thrown over her spindly frame.

"By all that is holy, WHAT is going on here?" She asks, stopping between them as the younger mage continues her uncontrollable sobbing, the almost templar looking terrified and unsure and very, very young.

"I don't know!" he exclaims, "I woke up and she was screaming and crying. At first I thought she was dreaming of the darks spawn, but I would have sensed that, it was something else, so I tried to wake her, and she just, she just-" His voice cuts off as he swallows hard, "I tried to wake her and she just went mad, like she thought I was going to hurt her or something." He rakes a hand through his hair, frustration and shock evident on his face as he looks past the apostate to the fragile mage huddling away from him and the fire, her body wracked with tears as she clutches at the dog. "I don't, I don't think I should talk to her. Would you?" He lets the question hang, looking at his nemesis with a plea in his eyes, and she nods back tightly.

Softly and quietly, as if approaching an injured animal, Morrigan moves towards the young mage. "Nadia, it is I, Morrigan. You have nothing to fear, no one will harm you. May I come near?" She asks, her voice narrow and cautious. Tightly, spasmodically the girl nods. She crouches near the girl, who is still clutching the bewildered dog. "Are you all right?" the wild mage asks.

"Y-yess." She stutters out, and her face begins to twitch from shock. Morrigan does not look convinced.

"Can you tell me what happened, what you dreamed of?" Morrigan asks, but immediately Nadia's whole body begins to shake and her teeth to chatter.

"No, no no, not with him near!" She frantically whispers, and Morrigan notes the half wild, gone look in her eyes.

"Alistair. Go to the creek and fetch some fresh water for our friend." She instructs. Nodding stiffly, the templar gets up, gathering a water skin and his sword and heads out of camp. It is just the four of them, on the road that night on the way to Lothering.

"It is okay Nadia, he is gone now. Tell me, of what did you dream?" Morrigan looks her in the eyes, and the mageling is to unfamiliar with wilder magic to know she is being ensorcelled. Slowly, haltingly Nadia tells her of her nightmare, of what occurs there in. She watches but does not note the growing disapproval and anger on the other Mages face. Her tears renew themselves fresh as she finishes her tale, burying her face in the dogs neck.

"It will be okay, Nadia." The older girl informs her, her voice harsh and soothing, all at the same time. "I will give you a potion to give you a dreamless sleep. It is harmless, but will keep you from having any more nightmares tonight." Quickly Morrigan crosses the camp and returns with a small vial. "Drink this down then lay down your head. It acts quickly. Nodding, trusting the younger girl complies.

Nadia is asleep, and Morrigan is lightly brushing her hair from her face when Alistair returns to camp. She nods her head to the side, and they meet on the other side of the fire, away from Nadia so they cannot disturb her with their talk as Morrigan explains what occurred. She sees all kindness and compassion wash from Alistairs' face as she explains, to be replaced with a look of stone.

"Morrigan, I need you to find out his name for me." Alistair tells her, and she sneers at him.

"Why, so that Nadia can be upset further by questioning and being reminded of-" He cuts her off.

"I need to know so that I can kill him."

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